Yugioh: The Next Millennium
by Crossing Dreamer Silverdramon
Summary: 1000 years after series Yuuichi Motuo discovered and solved the Millennium Puzzle just in time to awaken the ancient spirit that dwells within it. With the help of the spirit and his friends, it’s up to Yuuichi to save the world from a new threat.
1. Today Was a Good Day

**Summary:** Yuuichi Motuo discovers and solves the Millennium Puzzle just in time to awaken the ancient spirit that dwells within it. With the help of the spirit and his friends, it's up to Yuuichi to save the world from a new threat.

**A/N:** After a couple of hours of editing and re-editing I finally have this chapter along with chapter two finished. I'm quite satisfied with these newer versions of chapter 1 and chapter 2. Now considering the fact that there are only about six to seven pages of per original copy for each chapter you'd think that it's be easy right? WRONG! -sighs-

Anyway for those of you who are barely reading this story for the first time, this deals with what happened after Yu-Gi-Oh ended, Atemu (for the most part I will use the name Atemu rather than Atem) regained his memories and then dueled against Yugi in the Ceremonial Battle. In the end Yugi defeats Atemu, meaning that the pharaoh will now have to leave and join his friends and family in the afterlife.

But of course you all know that.

Unlike in the series, Yugi ends up keeping the Millennium Puzzle and the other items are likely to have been destroyed… Or so Yugi and his friends thought. So um continue on reading after the **disclaimer** and if you have something to tell me, send me a **review**.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

**Code Thing**  
"Talking"  
'_Thinking'_  
_--Flashback--_

**Chapter 1 Today was a good day**  
Today was a good day.

The sun was shining brightly, the birds were chirping; Yugi and his friends were all at his home relaxing and looking forward to the weekend.

Yugi had an idea that they should all go to the park the next day. Téa agreed and suggested that they could have a picnic, which seemed like a wonderful idea according to Yugi's grandfather.

It gave them an excuse to go out rather than staying home cooped up and doing nothing. Yugi's grandfather saw it as an opportunity to close the game shop and relax during a busy week of people coming in and purchasing duel monster cards for Kaiba's new tournament.

Solomon Motuo looked to his grandson when he mentioned Kaiba's tournament, but from the looks of it Yugi didn't seem interested in the game that much anymore.

He noticed how the boy stared down at the Millennium Puzzle that was around his neck. Yugi had been acting this way for quite some time now. Cheerful and optimistic yes, but when dueling came into the discussion, the King of Games' demeanor suddenly seemed to change… Then again his best friend had left this world, suddenly realizing it, Solomon Motuo remembered that it was a year ago today.

_-- The Ceremonial Battle_

_Despite what Kaiba had said, Yugi decided to take the challenge for himself. It was not just a test to see whether Atemu was ready for the afterlife, but also a test for himself as well._

_He knew that it would be his toughest, this wasn't just the other half to his soul, Atemu was his friend. Yugi knew that he had to give it his best in this duel, but he didn't want to. He didn't want to lose Atemu._

_During the duel things were a bit extreme, sometimes he'd have the advantage over Atemu, then the tables would turn and it would be Atemu's turn whether it was because of he had one (or all) of his Egyptian Gods on the field, or because his Dark Magician had wiped Yugi's monsters from his side of the field. _

_The odds were overwhelmingly against him especially when Atemu used Monster Reborn to bring Slifer the Sky Dragon back the field, but with a stroke of luck and quick thinking, Yugi managed to save himself. By using his Silent Magician at his full level and a magic card he was able to stop Slifer once and for all and sealing Atemu's fate with a final attack. _

_He had actually won, yet he didn't feel good about it, now Atemu had to leave and he didn't want him to go. But Atemu didn't want him to feel that way. _

"_It's going to be alright," Atemu had said despite the fact that Yugi would not listen. He told him that he'd be okay, giving Yugi the strength to finally let go._

_Atemu noticed the stone where he had placed the Millennium Items. He walked over to it and retrieved the Millennium Puzzle. The sounds of Téa gasping and Kaiba and Joey muttering could be heard wondering what it was that he was doing._

_He walked back to Yugi bent down until they were facing each other eye to eye. Surely Yugi didn't think that he would leave him so empty-handed._

_Yet the fact remained that he might be making a terrible mistake drifted in his mind, but Atemu didn't care. He wanted to give him something to remember him by. _

_Atemu smiled at Yugi as he handed him the Millennium Puzzle… --_

"Hey I know we should call Ryou, maybe he'd want to go with us too," said Joey, Yugi suddenly looked at them forcing a bit of a smile as he picked up the phone and dialed Ryou's home number.

The phone rang at least four times; Yugi was ready to give up when he heard someone answer. All he heard was the sound of someone yelling incomprehensibly before saying, "Hello?"

"Ryou?"

"Oh… Yugi…What's going on?" He could hear Ryou say on the other line, his voice sounded distressed and frustrated. Maybe it was a bad time to call, but Yugi pushed on anyway.

"Hey Bakura, we're gonna have a picnic at the park tomorrow and we were just wondering if you'd like to come with us," Yugi asked.

"Uh, I'm really kinda busy right now, work you know." The line went silent for a moment. "I probably wont have time for that tomorrow," he added.

"You sure? Well maybe we can come over and help you," Yugi offered, only to have not so good results.

"NOOO DON'T!" Ryou yelled back causing Yugi to cringe slightly, Ryou laughed a few seconds later, "I mean it's okay, I can handle this by myself." he replied in a hurry.

"Umm okay but if you do finish early well you'll know where to find us," Yugi said but was interrupted by a really strange Ryou.

"NothanksI'mfinereallymaybenexttime," Ryou replied rather quickly whatever he said was too jumbled up to be understood. Yugi looked at the receiver oddly before hanging up.

"So what's it gonna be? He comin' or not?" Joey asked while he changed the channel.

"He said he had a lot of work to do, maybe though," Yugi replied still a bit confused to why Ryou was acting that way. Who was he yelling at, and why?

The next day Yugi and his grandfather met up with Joey, Tristan, and Téa at the park. Ryou did not show up, Yugi concluded that Ryou just wasn't going to show up.

After reaching the park they decided to set up their spot. Téa and Yugi's grandfather were too busy making sandwiches while Yugi and the other two teens were playing Frisbee.

Joey and Tristan were toying with Yugi; he was a bit short to catch the Frisbee. He managed to get back at Joey though when he was not paying attention to throw the disk at his head.

It wasn't his intention to really hurt the other teen especially with a Frisbee that couldn't do any harm other than maybe a bump, but it was funny when instead of hitting Joey in the back of the head, Joey turned around allowing the Frisbee to get caught in his mouth.

Yugi was a bit wide eyed in surprise but started giggling and laughing along with Tristan. Joey pulled the Frisbee from his mouth, _'Oh what the heck,'_ he thought as he too joined in and chuckled as well.

"Those boys," Téa said watching her friends from afar. She called out to them telling that the sandwiches were ready. To her surprise the three boys charged towards her and the food, making no comments as they rushed for their share. Tea didn't do much but sweat drop.

Joey as usual had been taking in as much as humanly possible while Tristan cheered, Tea had been talking to Yugi noticing that he was behaving a bit distant but trying to hide it, when she noticed that Ryou Bakura was heading their way.

"Hey 'bout time ya showed up," Joey stopped enjoying his meal as he noticed it was Ryou, yet something was definitely odd about his appearance.

"Yeah C'mon there's more than enough to go around well there was," Tea remarked as she looked at Joey who had gone back to wolfing down his sandwiches. Ryou lowered his head as he approached them.

"Earth to Ryou... Ryou?"

Ryou had not bothered looking at them; he had his left hand in his pocket. From the looks of it, it seemed that he was struggling to take out whatever he was holding on to.

Ryou was mumbling to himself angrily, he clutched his head with his other hand for a moment.

"Is something wrong?" Yugi suddenly said.

"Anything we can get you?"

Ryou Bakura lifted his face letting his hand go as he looked right at them. Ryou's appearance looked rundown, black circles forming under his eyes most likely from lack of sleep, but that wasn't the point.

Something about his brown eyes suddenly seemed to bring about a look of fear into his friends' faces. The sort of ravenous and deranged look that could make a person cringe in fear.

Yami Bakura smiled in delight as he took a step forward.

"As a matter of fact I do," he replied, sounding nothing like the person Yugi had been talking to a while earlier. A bright glow erupted in front of him causing some sort of object to materialize.

It was the Millennium Ring.

"No way!!!"

"I thought they were destroyed!!"

"So did I, it's not possible!!"

"But that means…" said Téa but was interrupted by Yugi.

"He's back."

A smirk formed on Yami Bakura's face, those fools didn't expect for him to return did they?

"I guess you want my Puzzle don't you," Yugi yelled already knowing why the spirit was here in the first place. He clutched the chain of his Millennium Puzzle, "That's always what you want!"

Yami Bakura came to a halt, "Of course it is. Maybe its time you realized that no matter what you do you can never escape me. Even after you defeated me in the Memory World, I thought that I was a goner. But thanks to that idiot pharaoh friend of yours, I was able to come back."

"What? Atemu? What are you talking about? " Yugi stopped mid sentence as he looked at the Millennium Puzzle, when he realized, "Of course! Atemu removed the Puzzle from the tablet. When he did that the other items could not be bounded and were released from their resting place as well. But then why didn't Ryou…"

"Ryou that weak fool? Stupid vessel's been trying to keep me under control for quite a while now. He tried putting up a bit of a fight to stop me from getting here. I was surprise that he was able to take me on, but in the end he was no match for me. Enough now with all this talking, hand it over," Yami Bakura said as waited for the Millennium Puzzle.

"Or what tough guy?" Joey said standing next to Yugi while making a fist at the ancient spirit who now inhabited the body of his friend.

Yami Bakura chuckled, "Figures you idiots wouldn't hand over the Puzzle, so I thought it would be best to bring something that can persuade you a little better," he replied as he pulled out something from his pocket, a handgun.

Téa screamed aloud, "Oh my gosh! He's got a gun!!!"

"No kidding!" Joey yelled as he backed away waving his hands in front of him.

Yugi looked to Joey then back to Yami Bakura. He didn't want all of thins to happen again now that Atemu was gone and unable to protect him.

"What's the matter little Yugi? No all powerful pharaoh to protect you from the big bad thief?" He was right Atemu wasn't there to help him or his friends.

But wasn't that the point of the Ceremonial Battle? Not just to prove if Atemu was worthy of the afterlife, but to for him as well to see if he could let Atemu go. He was strong of heart and Atemu knew that in his mind; Yugi didn't need him anymore.

Yugi proved Atemu right when he defeated him. Yugi was strong and courageous enough to finally let go. He remembered that Atemu had assured him that he would never be alone because he still had his friends by his side.

Yugi took a deep breath as he stepped forward and removed the Millennium Puzzle from his neck; he held the puzzle by the chain a fearless expression on his face as he stared at Yami Bakura.

"That's right just hand it over," Yami Bakura said, his hand outstretched waiting to receive the item.

"Don't do it buddy," said Joey who was hiding behind Tristan.

"He has no other choice. Either it's the Millennium Puzzle or your lives, and it seems that Yugi has made the right choice."

Yugi stopped only about half a meter away from his foe, but he didn't give him what he wanted. "You're right Atemu's not here to help me, but there's one thing you're wrong about. I don't need Atemu anymore, because I have friends here that I care about, and there's nothing I wouldn't do to help and protect them."

"How touching…" Yami Bakura said revolted by the sound of those words.

"I know you won't guarantee the safety of my friends even if I give you my puzzle, I could give you the puzzle and you'd still shoot me," he said with a little more fierceness in his voice.

"Does that mean you're not going to give in? That's fine with me I'll just kill you first and take the Puzzle when I'm done." He smirked ready to pull the trigger.

"No I'm not going to let you… Ryou I know you're in there, so listen closely, I'm going to free you,"

"You really think that the boy can hear you?!" Yami Bakura realized that the Millennium Ring and Puzzle were both glowing, "What!! What are you doing!?" He yelled.

"Releasing Ryou and freeing him from your control," Yugi cried out as the glow got stronger. How he had managed to be able to use such an incredible amount of magic was a mystery. Yami Bakura was too distracted shielding his eyes from the light that he failed to notice as Yugi swung his Puzzle right at him striking him in the face.

A loud shot was heard, causing the birds that were nesting in the trees to be spooked and fly around to the point that Tea freaked out and grabbed Joey's arm.

They didn't hear the soft thudding sounds that were made as pieces of the Millennium Puzzle had fallen to the ground; the blinding light grew dim and faded away. The few pieces that had fallen to the ground were followed by the Millennium Puzzle that Yugi had been holding on to.

Ryou had fallen on his rear; one hand was on the ground still holding onto the pistol that had gone off, his other covering the cut on his face in which started bleeding. The teen seemed in shock to what was going on.

He looked up to Yugi who stood there for a few seconds not really noticing that he had just dropped his most prized possession. Instead his attention was focused on his hand that was over his chest. It was where the bullet had entered.

Not a second later he collapsed and fell over Ryou. Frightened, Ryou let go of the gun that he was holding on to and tried to catch Yugi.

"NO YUGI!!!!" Téa cried out ready to go to his aide.

"Téa don't," Yugi's grandfather said as he tried to reach her, but she had already ran to Yugi and Ryou.

She reached the two of them, Ryou was mumbling like crazily as she tried to drag the other teen away from him. Téa turned Yugi around having lie on his back, and smacked him in the cheeks a few times to keep him awake.

"Téa…" he whispered as he opened his eyes slightly.

"No, no, no I won't lose you Yugi! Please stay awake! SOMEONE CALL AN AMBULENCE!!" she screamed as she cried, Yugi's grandfather took out a cell phone and dialed for an ambulance.

"Ryou…" Yugi whispered once more Ryou snapped back to reality and looked to Yugi still in shock.

"Yugi?"

"You're free…" Yugi shook for a moment and coughed immensely as blood started coming out of his mouth.

"I… I'm so sorry Yugi… I should have told you… I should have…" The snowy white haired teen broke off mid sentence and fell to his knees as he yanked the Millennium Ring and cried, "It's all my fault!"

Ryou could see them slowly approaching him, looking at him terrified and alert in case something else happened. His brown eyes filled with tears as he tried to bring himself to grips with what had just happened. Thought, it was the entirely spirit's fault, Ryou knew that the thief wasn't entirely blameless in this.

He could have done something about it, he could have told Yugi and warned him about the spirit. Ryou looked down at the Millennium Ring in his hand, his hatred for the item began to surge within him. All it ever did was bring pain and suffering to him as well as everyone else.

There had to be a way to put a stop to this. Ryou stepped back, wiped the tears and the blood away from his face the best he could but it was no use. He picked up the handgun contemplating what to do next.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Tristan said as he and Joey noticed that their friend was holding the gun again; they stepped back fearing that it was the spirit who was doing this not Ryou.

"I'm sorry about this I truly am…" he said as he as he backed away in case something happened.

"Ryou? Wait what are you doing?" Joey said realizing that it was really Ryou who they were talking to, but what was he trying to do now? Was he going to run away?

"I have to put a stop to it. Even if I got rid of this ring, he'll always come back and who knows what he'll do. That's why I must…" He said. His hand trembled his mind already made up.

"Why you'll what?" Tea asked trying to hold in the tears that kept rolling down her cheeks, she continued to shake Yugi.

"Why I must say goodbye, as long as I'm around I'll always be a threat to you and everyone else," He replied as he slowly placed the barrel of the gun to his temple.

"Wait! No stop!" Joey yelled when he saw what Ryou was about to do.

"Don't do it!!" Tristan yelled out.

Ryou shook his head, "I wish there was another way, but there is no time, I'm sorry…" He closed his eyes tightly, gritting his teeth as he did. Joey and Tristan ran to him hoping that they would stop him in time, but their efforts were in vain as another shot was heard.

"RYOU!!" They both yelled in unison when they saw Ryou lying on the floor, eyes closed as a pool of blood collected from where he shot himself. His white hair slowly staining red with his own blood as he remained lifeless.

Within minutes the ambulance arrived at the scene. Medical assistance came and found two teens on the ground. One of them whose condition was critical and was getting worse by the second. As for the other, there was no hope he was already gone…

Gone forever...

**To Be Continued**


	2. Goodbye

**A/N:** Whoa sorry it took forever to post up a new chapter, my bad (I've been busy with my other fics). I guess it's important that I mention it now, but I am no longer interested in Yu-Gi-Oh but since I still have some of the unposted chapters in my laptop, I figured I should post what I have. If things go well and you guys (the readers) like it then chances are that I'll probably write more and continue and hey maybe I might even finish the story.

Originally I didn't mean to put this chapter up because it's kind of confusing, and short but in the end I was all like screw it and put it up anyway -**sighs**- so sorry again if this is not good.  
**  
Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. Please leave **review** and tell me what you think of this so far.

**Code Thing  
**"Talking"  
_Thinking'  
__--Flashback--_

**Chapter 2 Goodbye  
**"Yugi?" Téa said as she knocked on the door for the fifth time already. The brunette had been waiting outside for quite a while now hoping that he would at least answer the door. Téa had called to his house the day before, and she had called three times today, but to no avail.

Yugi wouldn't answer his phone.

Téa was beginning to worry and had gone to look for the landlord wondering if he had a spare key to the apartment. Luckily he did and Téa was able to open the front door, but what she found surprised her.

The place was a mess.

The couch was turned over and the sofa cushions were torn open, there was even broken glass everywhere, and as she looked around she noticed the holes in the walls as if someone had been punching them for some time.

Téa couldn't believe what she was seeing as she walked in further. She looked around wondering who could have done this. Téa noticed that there were traces of blood smeared on the walls, the brunette couldn't help but shudder wondering to whom did the blood belong to.

She heard a sound coming from one of the rooms it was coming from what she recalled was Yugi's bedroom, upon entering Téa found that this room was no different than the living room. Someone was talking a woman, but then she realized that there was no one there and the talking was really singing coming from a CD player that was left untouched by the nightstand. The music was playing as Téa inspected the room.

_Lithium, don't want to lock me up inside.  
Lithium, don't want to forget how it feels without...  
Lithium, I want to stay in love with my sorrow.  
Oh but God I want to let it go. _

Come to bed, don't make me sleep alone.  
Couldn't hide the emptiness, you let it show.  
Never wanted it to be so cold.  
Just didn't drink enough to say you love me.

I can't hold on to me,  
Wonder what's wrong with me.  
  
The television was unplugged and broken; and as Téa looked on the floor she found that there were Duel Monster cards scattered everywhere on the floor, on the bed on the table. She picked up the nearest card and turned it around only to realize that it was the Dark Magician, Yugi's favorite monster; it had a bloody fingerprint smudged on it. As she walked around, she stepped on something; when she looked down she found a golden puzzle piece on the floor among others that weren't exactly scattered, but on the floor nonetheless. Not far from the pieces was the golden box that held Yugi's Millennium Puzzle. 

_Lithium, don't want to lock me up inside.  
Lithium, don't want to forget how it feels without...  
Lithium, I want to stay in love with my sorrow. _

Don't want to let it lay me down this time.  
Drown my will to fly.  
Here in the darkness I know myself.  
Can't break free until I let it go.  
Let me go.

Darling, I forgive you after all.  
Anything is better than to be alone.  
And in the end I guess I had to fall.  
Always find my place among the ashes. 

Téa let the card drop on the bed walking cautiously over the puzzle pieces and towards the bathroom. "Yugi? If you're in there, please tell me because you're scaring me." She said as she walked up to the door. She knocked on the door, but found that it was partially opened. Téa took a deep breath and pushed the door opened, again the place was empty.

She walked in and looked around seeing that there was a lot of blood in there as well. On the bathroom sink Téa found a blood coated razor blade. It didn't take Téa long to realize what had been going on but she still couldn't believe it.

Had Yugi really gone so far as to cut himself?

_I can't hold on to me,  
Wonder what's wrong with me. _

Lithium, don't want to lock me up inside.  
Lithium, don't want to forget how it feels without...  
Lithium, I want to stay in love with my sorrow.  
Oh but God I want to let it go. 

But why?

Téa couldn't understand why Yugi would do such a thing. Was it because of what happened a few years back? He had always seemed okay to her and the others, but she never had thought that something was wrong. The song came to an end and the whole room was silent for a second or two before it started all over again.

Téa left the bathroom and exited the room as quickly as possible. If Yugi was really hurt, then and he wasn't in his home then chances were that someone must have found him and taken him to the hospital or something. Her best guess at finding her friend would be to check the hospital and hope that he was there and that he was okay. The brunette made her way through the living room and opened the door. Téa took one last glance at the place before leaving and closing the door behind her.

**To Be Continued**  
O.o? Yeah this chapter came out oddly. I didn't want to post it because it doesn't really explain anything, (though then again it can be used to my advantage later). Uh the song that was used in this chapter is called "Lithium" by Evanescence, it's probably the only Evanescence song that I like since I don't really like the band.


	3. The Bet

**A/N: **-**Roars**- yeah uh not much, to say. Uh hated how chapter 2 came out but I feel that this chapter is much better. Um now that we're actually getting somewhere we can move on to the future as I had originally meant to.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, but I do own the OCs. Please leave **review** and tell me what you think of this so far.

**Code Thing  
**"Talking"  
'_Thinking'_

**Chapter 3 The Bet  
**It was a Thursday afternoon as Yuuichi Motuo walked home. At the age of 16, he was a junior from Domino High School. School was over for the day and Yuuichi was walking alone, his backpack on one hand and his school jacket hanging over his right shoulder as he thought about a couple of things.

Yuui as he was commonly referred as by his friends, was sporting a silver jacket with a black lining on the side of his sleeves, he had matching silver pants that also had a black lining on the side. He wore a black shirt, and black sneakers. It was standard uniform for all male students who went to Domino High.

Yuui was the sort of happy-go-lucky type, where nothing could bother him; well there was one thing. Unlike most members of his family, Yuui was the only one with tri-colored hair. It was an oddity because it had been brought up that the Legendary King of Games, Yugi Motuo, also had the same hairstyle as he did.

It became a nuisance to him when people said that he bore an uncanny resemblance to Yugi Motuo, the same hairstyle, eye color, and height. His classmates would always shower him with questions, whether he was even related to the guy. Yuui would try and deny it but then some idiot tried to prove him wrong by showing him an old poster of Yugi, others found photographs of the Game King that were posted on the Internet ages ago.

Of course Yuui always shook his head and said that didn't really prove anything. Yugi Motuo lived more than 1,000 years ago; according to what his friend Chris had found on Yugi Motuo's Biography, the duelist king had died at a young age and had no children. But that could neither be confirmed nor proven false because there hadn't been a complete biography of the man in over 900 years.

No body to date really knew how the Young Game King had died, or how old he was at the time.

Anyway…

Yuui had a lot of work to do, and couldn't wait until he got home, especially since he had a project to do for one of his classes. He needed to read a report to his class. The basics: it had to be something from history, answer where it came from, how old it is, who it belonged to etc.

Yuui had enough on his mind, too many things that he had to do, but it would all have to wait for later, this was more important and counted for his semester grade, oh how much he disliked history.

His history teacher Mr. Nakamura was different than most teachers from Yuui's school. He was more or less old-fashioned like those educators from the late twentieth/early twenty-first century. And despite the fact that the school was remodeled many years ago, Mr. Nakamura insisted that they use more primitive technology, this way the students can get a feel to what it was like back then.

"A pain in the ass," Yuui had once said aloud which earned him a day's worth of writing lines by hand during detention. He was lost in his thoughts when his friends Chris Wilson and Jyou Baker, and Kate Thompson, popped up out of nowhere calling out his name.

Jyou (sounds like Joe) was a year older than Yuui but in the same grade as his friend. He was a tall boy with light brown hair, and aquamarine colored eyes; he too was wearing the same uniform that Yuui wore, though his was a bit untidy. The teen ran circles around Yuui who walked next to his girlfriend Kate.

Kate Thompson bore a strong resemblance to Téa. Though, her hair was longer and blond not brown, and Kate had amber colored eyes. Like the boys at her school, all girls were required to wear a uniform that consisted of a skirt and jacket. The girls' uniform was pink and silver rather than silver and black.

Chris Wilson was Jyou's best friend; well the only thing about him that could be said is that his hair was black and spiky, and he had light blue eyes. He too was wearing a uniform except his jacket was zipped up all the way. Yuui wasn't paying much attention at the time. Jyou had stopped running around and was now talking about something that had both Chris and Kate interested.

"Another brilliant plan?" Yuui asked as he stared into the sky. Most of Jyou's ideas were always too far-fetched to even get through, and he'd had enough with such crazy stunts. Yet his other friends didn't seem to think it was.

"I think it is a good idea," said Kate as she wrapped her arm as around Yuui, her gentle amber colored eyes staring at him while she smiled.

"Oh and why is that?" he asked, as he smiled back, and waited for his best friend to at least say something.

"Well hear him out and you'll agree as well," she said as she suddenly let go and moved next to him, as she swung her pink book bag, back and forth.

"Uh can't, have to get going," he said suddenly as he looked at his watch suddenly remembering that he still had his homework to do, especially. "That stupid project for history," he said as he kicked a stone into the street.

"Oh yeah I almost forgot, hey I gotta get going too, see ya tomorrow." said Jyou, as he took off running.

"Yeah me too," said Chris as he followed after him; Chris lived a few houses away from Jyou. Kate said goodbye and kissed Yuui on the cheek before she walked off across the street with her book bag in both hands.

"Well see ya," Yuui waved as he turned the corner and headed home. He took of running seeing how he was nearby now. His house was half a block away from where the Kame Game shop once was. It was a large house painted beige with green. Yuui took out his spare keys and unlocked the door.

* * *

His parents weren't home at the moment they were out working. Not that it mattered, Yuui knew how to look after himself. Truth be told, Yuui liked the momentary solitude because there was no one around to bother him while he did his homework or when he planned his dueling strategies, 

That is until…

He went upstairs and walked towards his room, upon opening the door Yuui found that she was waiting for him.

_'Crap,'_ he thought having forgotten what day it was today.

"So big brother, did you finish yet?" was the first thing she asked while sitting down on his bed. It was his younger sister Anya (Ahn-Yah).

She stared at Yuui, her violet colored eyes peeking over her glasses. She almost had the same shape eyes as he did though hers were smaller and lacking the innocent charm that Yuui's seemed to have. She brushed her light brown bangs away from her face, intermixing with her jet black hair.

"What are you doing here? How did you get in?" he asked as he checked the security lock on the outside of his room. Reminding himself to change the code later when Anya left, Yuui walked back in and tossed his backpack next to his sister before sitting down on a chair next to his desk.

"Did you forget?" she asked as she adjusted her glasses for a moment

"How could I forget with you jumping at me every once and a while," he muttered hopping that she wouldn't hear. "What?" she asked

He scratched the back of his head, "Nothing. Look I was just about to get to it," he replied changing the subject as he opened his drawer and pulled out a small golden object from within.

Yuui grabbed the object by the chain holding it for her to see.

"Ha! You haven't finished, so that means I win!" Anya taunted as she jumped off his bed landing on her feet.

"Pay up, you lose!" she said as she stretched her hand out waiting for him to pay her.

_'I was so close,'_ the teen thought as he stared at his sister, what was worse is that he didn't have the money to pay her with. He had to figure out what to do, he didn't have any money right now.

_'Think Yuui think.'_

He tried to think what he could to delay or postpone from making any payment? Then he thought of something, it was risky and last minute, but it was worth it if he could only buy himself more time.

"Tell you what sis, it's not over. Here's the deal, if I don't finish before sunset you win. But if I do then you'll pay double."

"What? You can't just change the rules. Today was your last day and you didn't finish so pay up," she said.

"Oh come on just give me a bit more time sis. What's the matter you have nothing to lose anyway?" Yuui said as Anya sat down again, "Besides, it's like you said. No one who's ever found this thing has ever solved it. Can't I at least want to try and get farther than anyone?"

"Hmm…Double?" Anya said thoughtfully taking a few seconds to think about it. There's no way she could lose, the odds were against him after all. She couldn't let this chance pass her by, besides, double? She took off her glasses and cleaned them up before placing them back and sighing.

"Okay fine because I believe in giving second chances and because I'm oh so nice I'll let the bet continue. But, I'll be waiting exactly at 6:45 so you better be ready to pay up," she said finally before she walked out the door.

Yuui immediately got up and closed the door making sure that he locked it. The teen sighed as he made his way back to his chair, thinking about the deal he had just made.

Double? It was bad enough he had to pay his sibling if he lost this bet, but double the amount? Where would he get that amount of cash to pay?

He contemplated on borrowing from his friends. Though then again, he would end up having to reimburse for them, and it would be weeks until he would got his allowance.

Why did he have to go and buy that blasted Dark Paladin card? It was a card so rare that he paid three months worth of his allowance. Of course the reason he bought the card in the first place was because he needed it to boost his deck, for a Duel Monsters National Tournament. Despite having a powerful card he still only made to 5th place. If it weren't for Santiago, he would of made it to the semifinals.

He cursed to himself remembering that he never even got a chance to use his rarest and most valuable card. But like Jyou said luck just wasn't with him during that rematch between the two experienced duelists, maybe there will next time.

That was another time. Actually it was last month though he didn't want to take into account that in a way he failed, not quite sure to whom, but only that he disappointed that person. Oh well it's not like it mattered now, now what was he going to do?

_'Oh right,'_ he thought as he picked up and studied the Golden Puzzle in his hand. It was the Millennium Puzzle.

Funny how it came to be that he would ever come across such a valuable item of great importance. It was a mystery as well; out of all of those who ever came across this puzzle, no one had ever managed to complete it.

In a period of a thousand years, that the Millennium Puzzle was in the possession of their household, yet not once was the item ever completely assembled.

The only proof he had was a journal the name of who ever it belonged to had worn away and some of the writing was now illegible. But from reading whatever he could he could tell that it was a woman who wrote this.

In the journal he also discovered a single note, written in the same writing as in the journal. As far as Yuui could ever tell, the note dated back to 1,000 years prior to his own time.

The note itself mentioned what the puzzle is, and that it was clearly over 5,000 years old, which would become 6,000 if it added the extra couple of years since the note was written. Who ever wrote it challenged whoever came across the Millennium Puzzle, to solve it.

He turned the note around and found a list of signatures, it was from other people who tried and failed. Most of the signatures were from people who didn't even have the surname Motuo.

There were maybe five or six in all that had the same last name as Yuui, and those were more recent happening along the time of about 80 or 90 years. From what Yuui could tell, there were at least 79 names of people who tried, a time and date of when they gave up, and the number of pieces that they managed to put together.

There were a lot of people who tried to put the puzzle, but no one ever finished. He wondered if it were all a trick and the puzzle could never be assembled, or maybe some of the pieces were missing.

Yuui gave up thinking about it and focused all his attention to the item, if he kept wasting his time he would never finish, and he too will end up adding his name to the long list.

That was of course how the bet was started between him and Anya. It was about a month ago when the two were rummaging through the basement looking for things that Anya came across the Millennium Item along with some older junk that his parents always kept.

When they asked their parents what it was, they shrugged. They themselves were unsure to what it was. However, they did know that it was their great-uncle who had given it to Yuui's dad. Yuui had looked over the note and surely enough his name was signed at the bottom, meaning he was the last to try the puzzle.

It was a little while after that, that his sister Anya proposed a challenge to her older brother.

"Look at it this way, if you fail you'll be a part of history for the next guy who find this thing." She had said to him the next day.

He had enough to do with games, and didn't accept at first. It was bad enough that he lost the tournament, he didn't want to make a fool out of himself, and especially for one lousy puzzle that no one ever finished. Probably some of the pieces were missing, so it was pointless to even try.

How their bet turned into a gamble, he didn't know.

Yuui snapped back remembering what he was supposed to do, he opened the drawer and took out a golden box. The golden box had strange engravings on it including a creepy looking eye. Inside was where he stashed the puzzle and its remaining pieces, currently there were only 11 left.

Sure it looks like there are only a few left, but these were the ones that were harder to fit in. The easier pieces went in perfectly without problem the first week he got started. That eventually changed as it began to get complicated some of the pieces not fitting right.

Not to mention homework, practicing with his drums, hanging out with his friends, and that stupid report that he kept putting off. With all his time spent on other things, he couldn't get much work done on his puzzle. He still had to worry about the report.

That's it.

_'The Millennium Puzzle?'_ Yuui thought as he stared into the puzzle. He pondered about the Millennium Puzzle, the item was certainly old and maybe there was some sort of history behind it since it was in their family for a long time.

Who knows?

Certainly that would be enough wouldn't it? He had the note that may come in handy, though he could go and find out more about the item if possible. But he couldn't do that now, maybe later when he finished the Millennium Puzzle.

He looked out the window as he added the next piece, nine pieces to go. Suddenly there was a slight chill so he decided to close the window. Yuui noticed that the window was open, odd because he didn't recall ever opening it.

Meanwhile Anya was sitting down watching television and eating popcorn. She changed channels nothing really catching her attention. She eventually got bored and went into the kitchen looking for something else to eat. She looked at her watch, there was only three more hours left and she would have won. She was considering walking over to Yuui's room and maybe check up on him, but decided it would be unnecessary. She shook her head and grabbed some pop tarts and walked back to her room.

After messing up for the third time Yuui managed to get six more pieces. With only three more he'd win.

'So close,' Yuui took a deep breath and exhaled as he glanced at the digital clock nearby on the wall. He stared in shock.

'Damn how could it take that long? Six pieces in two hours?' He shook his head in disbelief. Yuui didn't realize how much time had passed by. He scratched the back of his head as he looked at the remaining pieces; none of them seemed to match anymore.

Yuui only had a little amount of time; he had to figure out how to finish assembling the puzzle and fast! If only he knew how though.

He looked out the window once more, the sun was setting, and he could hear his sister coming up the stairs and he only needed two more pieces, but there was nowhere they would fit.

'_What did I do wrong?'_

"Fit damn it. Fit already!" he gritted his teeth as he jammed the pieces in. This only caused two other pieces to come right off. The inverted pyramid was not smooth, but rather bumpy and pointy.

A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. He could hear his sister calling from the other side.

"Time's up, so let's see what you got," she said as Yuui walked over to unlock the door.

"Huh? Huh? Did you finish?" she asked tried to take a peek at the unfinished Millennium Item.

He sighed, _'best to get this over with.'_

He slowly moved to the side as Anya walked forward and take a look. "Oh my gosh! I can't believe it! You actually finished?" she said as she looked to the item then back to Yuui with complete amazement.

_'Finished?'_

He turned around figuring that Anya was just playing a joke on him and saw his sister holding a completed Millennium Puzzle by the chain. His eyes grew wide realizing that all of the pieces were where they should obviously be, but how when never even finished?

It remained a mystery, for him. "Are you alright?" Anya looked at him oddly. Quickly he thought of something to say, as he decided to play along. Yuui snatched the puzzle from her hands.

"Careful sis, you'll break it," he said as he studied the Millennium Puzzle in his hands, trying not to bring about any suspicion from his sister. "But anyway, it's all done and within the time limit. So that means I win!" he said waving his item at her. She merely pouted, and stomped her foot.

"Yeah whatever, you win so it's only 500 bucks," Anya said crossing her arms.

"Then what are you waiting for? pay up already," Yuui said.

"Hold your horses, I'm going already," his sister replied as she walked out of his room closing the door along the way. Yuui smiled and jumped onto his bed, with excitement he couldn't believe it; it was as if he was dreaming.

_'This must be some sort of divine miracle or something,' _he thought to himself. He stared at the golden shiny puzzle in his hands. A completed Millennium Puzzle, the first one to even finish, even though he hadn't he still did come close enough, shouldn't he even get some credit for that?

He took the Millennium Puzzle and placed it around his neck, as Anya returned. "What are you doing?" she asked, she was holding onto a small wad of cash that was folded neatly in half.

"Huh? Oh well it's mine now. I finished it so I get to keep it; it says so on the note. Besides it might come in handy later on."

She rolled her eyes at her brother and tossed the wad of money at him. "Oh great, thanks a lot," Yuui said as he tried to reach for the few bills that fell to the carpeted ground. Unfortunately he ended up falling face first. Anya couldn't help but laugh as she left his room skipping with Joy. Well today wasn't so bad.

At least she got something to laugh about.

**

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To Be Continued  
Err so what do ya think? Is it okay? (shakes head) probably not. I haven't decided on whether or not I should continue, since I'm just getting this all out of the way. So review and give me yer opinion. 


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